Click the link to read the article on the Colorado Public Radio website (Caitlyn Kim). Here’s an excerpt:

August 5, 2025

These days, there’s a lot that divides the Colorado delegation along party lines. But one thing they’re all in agreement on is the need for the federal government to release about $140 million it’s holding onto for 15 water projects across the state.

“We ask you to move forward with obligating the remaining $140 million worth of Bucket 2 projects in Colorado – not just for the benefit of our state, but for the resilience of the entire Colorado River Basin,” urges the delegation letter [from Sen. John Hickenlooper, Hurd, Sen. Michael Bennet, and Reps. Jeff Crank, Joe Neguse, Gabe Evans, Brittany Pettersen, Lauren Boebert, Diana DeGette and Jeff Crow].

Among the awards was $40 million to purchase the Shoshone water rights from Xcel Energy and transfer them to the Colorado River District. The other projects deal with watershed restoration, restoring or improving habitats, improving wetlands and improving water health. As the letter points out, Congress allocated $4 billion in Biden’s signature climate, tax and health care law to deal with the ongoing drought in the Colorado River Basin. The Bucket 2 funding was awarded on January 17, but that was just the first step for money to be distributed to the projects. Typically, contracts or agreements have to be signed before the money is actually obligated and distributed. Still, even if that had been completed before the change of administrations, one of Trump’s first executive orders paused all funding appropriated through the IRA.